Investigations
following recent crimes committed against Kosovo Serbs in Obilic, Skulanovo and Gorazdevac are
literally at a standstill, the ERP KIM Info Services has learned from
sources close to the UNMIK police. The chief reason that it is impossible
to find the perpetrators of these crimes is the conspiracy of silence
in effect in Kosovo and Metohija, and the unwillingness of local Albanians
and institutions representing them to cooperate with UNMIK police
officials. According to the same source, this is to the advantage of
extremist Albanians who are suspected of being the perpetrators because
without knowing the names of the perpetrators these attacks cannot be
officially
classified as ethnically motivated crimes.

SERB
VICTIM OF BOMB ATTACK BURIED IN CERNICA TODAY
Miomir Savic (35), who died of wounds he received during a hand grenade
attack on a group of Serbs gathered in front of the village store on
Sunday evening, was buried today in the Orthodox cemetery in Cernica.

BETA News Agency, Belgrade
September 02, 2003

GNJILANE/CERNICA - Miomir Savic, who died of wounds he received during a hand
grenade attack on a group of Serbs gathered in front of the village store
on Sunday evening, was buried today in the Orthodox cemetery in
Cernica.

Savic is "the seventh Serb victim in Cernica of attacks by
Albanian extremists since the arrival of UNMIK and KFOR in Kosovo and
Metohija," it was said at the funeral, which was attended by almost all
the remaining Serbs in the ethnically mixed village near
Gnjilane.

The remaining Serbs in Cernica announced that after the
funeral they would discuss the security situation in the village. In
addition to the seven Serbs who were killed, more than 30 of them have
been wounded in the 75 attacks that have occurred to date.

None of
the perpetrators of the murders of Serbs in Cernica have been
found.

At today's public meeting the Serbs of Cernica will decide
whether they will remain in the village or whether they will collectively
leave their homes. One of the alternative possibilities is also the
relocation of some 50 children to safer areas in Kosovo to attend
school.

Serbian language instruction in the new school year in
Cernica still has not begun and has been taking place in a private
residence located some 50 meters from the site of the most recent
explosion.

Yesterday Cernica Serbs requested talks with the U.S.
KFOR officers, asking them for guarantees and the creation of normal
living conditions, and stating that their decision on whether to
collectively leave the village or not will depend on the guarantees they
receive.

SERBS FROM CERNICA TO DECIDE WHETHER TO STAY IN VILLAGE WITHIN DAYSAt
the meeting Cernica Serbs had planned to discuss the security situation in
the village and decide whether they wish to remain living there or want to
collectively leave their homes. One of the alternative possibilities is
also the relocation of some 50 children to safer areas in Kosovo to attend
school.

CERNICA - Serbs from
Cernica have deferred for a few days the public meeting scheduled for
today where residents were to have decided whether they wish to stay in
the village.

Beta has learned that the meeting was delayed in order
to allow time for a response to their request addressed to the U.S. KFOR
command in whose area of responsibility the village is located.

At
the meeting Cernica Serbs had planned to discuss the security situation in
the village and decide whether they wish to remain living there or want to
collectively leave their homes. One of the alternative possibilities is
also the relocation of some 50 children to safer areas in Kosovo to attend
school.

Following Sunday's attack in which Miomir Savic was killed
and four other persons injured, yesterday Cernica Serbs requested talks
with the U.S. KFOR officers, asking them for guarantees and the creation
of normal living conditions, and stating that their decision on whether to
collectively leave the village or not will depend on the guarantees they
receive.

Savic is
the seventh person murdered in Cernica since the arrival of international
forces in Kosovo. In the 75 attacks against the Serbian population that
have occurred so far, more than 30 people have also been
wounded.

There are
approximately 200 Serbs and more than 2,000 Albanians living in
Cernica.\

=============================

RELATED NEWS
FROM THE AREA:

Gnjilane Municipal Vice President Bans Serbs From Talking

Gnjilane, 02 Sep (RTS-NS) - Xhemajl Hyseni, the vice president of Gnjilane
municipality tried to distance the Serbian representatives of the
"Povratak" coalition from the sessions of the municipal security council
and the municipal presiding body, both of which were addressing the
Cernica incident.

Parliamentarian Vesna Jovanovic confirmed for FoNet news agency that after
the reaction of Bob Simon, the UNMIK municipal administrator, the Serbs
were allowed to participate the session but Hyseni still did not allow
them to talk.

Municipal vice president Bozidar Peric evaluated that the attack on the
Serbs from Cernica is politically motivated while Hyseni not liking such
an estimate evaluated that what happened in Cernica is just a typical
criminal act.

Local Serbs
Announce Street Protests Until Perpetrators Of The Crime In Cernica Are
Captured

Gjilane, 02 Sep (Radio Kosova, K/Albanian) - The Committee for Security
and Emergency in Gjilane municipality has denounced the explosions in
Cernica, where a Serb minority member lost his life, on a special meeting
held on Tuesday.

The second Vice-President of the Gjilane municipality Bozidar Peric
announced street protests by the local Serbs until the perpetrators are
captured. He assessed the explosion in Cernica as a crime with political
motives that aims to cleanse the Serbs from the village. Albanian deputies
opposed this qualification made by Peric and called it as a hasty
reaction, while they demanded that such acts, which are making the
situation tense, come to an end.

Today is the
official beginning of an operation of voluntary surrender of weapons in
Kosovo and Metohija supported by UNMIK and KFOR. UNMIK chief Harri
Holkeri, Kosovo premier Bajram Rexhepi and KFOR commander-in-chief general
Fabio Mini held a press conference in Pristina today and called on all
citizens of the Province who are in possession of illegal weapons to
surrender it by September 30.

"Recent events
give Kosovo a bad image," said UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, who condemned
the bomb attack in Cernica and the murder of Cernica local Miomir Savic.
Holkeri appealed to citizens to turn in their illegal weapons. "People in
Kosovo need to believe the police so that Kosovo can be safe for
everyone," said Holkeri.

Kosovo premier
Bajram Rexhepi also condemned the murder of a Serb man in Cernica, calling
it a criminal act that occurred, according to him, despite an improvement
in security. "It appears that someone is behind these criminal acts who
wants to provoke fear among the people of Kosovo and ruin the image of its
progress," said Rexhepi. Appealing for surrender of weapons, Rexhepi
stressed that Kosovo should have the rule of law so that crime does not
increase.

KFOR
commander-in-chief Italian general Fabio Mini reminded that the period of
amnesty began today and that the deadline for turning in weapons without
fear of prosecution is until September 30. "We have established mobile and
fixed checkpoints for turning in weapons throughout Kosovo," said Mini.
The KFOR commander expressed his hopes for positive results in the
voluntary surrender of weapons and said that the mentality of using
weapons must be overcome. KFOR has organized multiple campaigns for the
voluntary surrender of weapons, this latest one under the slogan "Turn in
weapons, don't kill freedom."

During the amnesty
the UNDP organization will use funds provided by the Japanese government
to implement a program called "Weapons Exchange for Progress" in 30
municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija. The program foresees the
possibility of competing for development projects in the municipalities in
exchange for voluntary surrender of arms, said the Japanese ambassador to
Serbia and Montenegro, Si Gemi Za Mura. The three municipalities with the
greatest quantity of collected weapons (over 300 pieces) will compete for
an UNDP award of 250,000 dollars. The public announcement of the results
of the best disarmed municipalities will take place on October 2 of this
year.

KOSOVO: UN RIGHTS CHIEF STRONGLY CONDEMNS RECENT ATTACKS AS "HEINOUS ACTS""These heinous
acts underline the urgency of ridding Kosovo of criminal and destructive
influences and of establishing a democratic society fully based on rule of
law and respect for human rights," Mr. Ramcharan said in a statement. "The
perpetrators of these crimes must not be allowed to undermine the peace
process and the efforts to build a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo."

2 September - The acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, today strongly condemned the recent series of
attacks in Kosovo, calling them an assault on the crucial process of
democratic reforms and appealing for an immediate end to the violence.

"These heinous acts underline the urgency of ridding Kosovo of criminal
and destructive influences and of establishing a democratic society fully
based on rule of law and respect for human rights," Mr. Ramcharan said in
a statement. "The perpetrators of these crimes must not be allowed to
undermine the peace process and the efforts to build a multi-ethnic
society in Kosovo."

An attack on Sunday evening left one Serb dead and four others injured,
and two Serbian teenagers were shot dead and four others injured while
swimming in a river earlier in August.

"The acting High Commissioner encourages the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo and the Provisional Institutions of
Self-Government to continue their efforts to improve the security
situation in Kosovo, in particular through strengthening local police and
measures to fight organized crime," the statement added.

SERB SUSPECT
IN UNMIK POLICEMAN MURDER RELEASEDVladimir Jovanovic (21)
from Ibarska Slatina in Leposavic municipality, suspected for the murder
of Satish Menon, an UNMIK police member, was released on Tuesday from
detention facility in Northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

Vladimir
Jovanovic (21) from Ibarska Slatina in Leposavic municipality, suspected
for the murder of Satish Menon, an UNMIK police member, was released on
Tuesday from detention facility in Northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

On a recommendation of the international prosecutor, Karl Mike Peralta, an
international judge, reached a decision to release Jovanovic from
detention in which he was placed on 19 of august. The decision was reached
on the basis of the forensic analysis, which confirmed that none of the
weapons found during the search in Leposavic municipality were used to
kill the policemen.

Miro Delvic, who is Jovanovic's lawyer, stated that the investigation in
this case would continue. (Beta)

CASE OF
VLADIMIR JOVANOVIC USED TO MAKE A FALSE BALANCE OF CRIME IN KOSOVO

ERP KIM
Info-service
September 3, 2003

COMMENT

Vladimir
Jovanovic who was arrested under suspicion of killing a UN policeman
Satish Menon in August has finally been set free. Be it coincidence or
not, Jovanovic was arrested in the time of a series of terrorist attacks
on Kosovo Serbs, including the massacre of Serb childeren in Gorazdevac,
and his case served to the K/Albanian and some international press as an
indicator that beside Albanian terrorism there is also a Serb terrorism in
Kosovo. The press immediately spread the news that a Kosovo Serb killed
the UN policeman although the police did not have any reliable proof
against Jovanovic. Before Satish Menon was killed the attacker(s) shot at
the car in which there was a Serb member of the UN run Kosovo Police
Force. Besides, the fact that the attack on the UN policeman occurred in
North Kosovo predominantly inhabited by Serbs has no significance at all
because just few months ago members of the Albanian National Army were
proved to have attempted to blow up a railway bridge, after which the
UNMIK chief branded them publicly a terrorist organization.

This case
shows once again that some circles in Kosovo are maiking tremendous
efforts to divert attention from Kosovo Albanian terrorism which is
without any doubt the most serious problem of post-war Kosovo Province.

SKOPJE, Sep 2 (AFP) - An ethnic Albanian militia has issued a stern
ultimatum to Macedonian security forces, urging them to withdraw from the
north of the country or face armed conflict, reports said Tuesday.

But after more than three hours of talks with the deputies of ethnic
Albanian political parties in the Macedonian parliament, the guerrillas of
the Albanian National Army (ANA) decided to suspend the ultimatum, sources
close to the rebels said.

However, the group issued five demands to the authorities, including a
withdrawal of special police forces from the northern region -- populated
mostly by ethnic Albanians -- amnesty for all former guerrillas and
release of all "political prisoners," one of the deputies, Hisni Shaciri,
told reporters.

He said the demands would be sent to the Macedonian authorities, but the
ANAN set to deadline for a response.

Earlier, ANA gave Macedonian forces until Tuesday afternoon to pull out of
the ethnic Albanian dominated region along the border with Kosovo.

In a statement posted on its website, the group said its forces would use
"all available means" to drive Macedonian forces out of the region,
threatening a return to the kind of separatist violence which erupted
there two years ago.

An interior ministry spokeswoman, Mirjana Kontevska, said the villages of
Vaksince and Lojane, some 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Skopje, "are under
control of armed persons," confirming earlier reports that rebels had been
seen there.

Local women and children are also reported to have left the village.

Earlier, Macedonian government spokesman Saso Colakovski told the Makfaks
news agency that Skopje would not negotiate with an "extremist criminal
group".

"The government is determined to isolate and eliminate these groups,"
Colakovski said.

Kontevska said "the police will not take any measures which could
jeopardize civilians and the safety of the citizens."

The ANA has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in
Kosovo, southern Serbia and Macedonia in recent months, and openly
declares its intention to create a "Greater Albania" in the region.

Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of Macedonia's two million
population, while they are the majority in the southern Serbian province
of Kosovo, which has been a United Nations protectorate since the 1998-99
civil war there.

The UN mission in Kosovo has listed the ANA as a "terrorist organisation"
but police there say it has limited resources to carry out large-scale
operations.

International peacekeepers are also deployed in Macedonia as part of a
peace deal between the Macedonian authorities and ethnic Albanian rebels
who waged a seven-month uprising for greater minority rights in 2001.

The ANA has emerged since the end of that conflict and is considered to be
more hardline than the rebels who took up arms two years ago.

Last week it claimed responsibility for three almost simultaneous
explosions near official buildings in Skopje which injured one soldier.

==============================

RELATED
NEWS:

Macedonia: ANA mobilizes its
forces

Makfax News Agency, SkopjeSkopje 9/2/03 2:43:42 PM
The National Front for Uniting of Albanians, ordered today an immediate
mobilization and deployment of its fighters in the border villages in
Kumanovo's municipalities, Makfax news agency quotes the latest communiqué
of the so-called Albanian National Army (ANA).

ANA's communiqué was released on its web site. It states that the
Commander of ANA Headquarters, Vigan Gradica, had issued an activation
order due to current situation in Kumanovo, Tanusevci, Vaksince and
Lojane.

"The activation order foresees that ANA's units 'Skenderbeg', 'Adem
Jashari' as well as the special units within ANA HQ, 'Anakonda', Komando
98' and the battalion 'Tahir Sinani' be put under state of highest alert.
The activation order comes into force immediately, says the ANA's
communiqué.

"The members of these units are to immediately take their positions within
next 24 hours, before the expiration of ANA's ultimatum to Macedonian
government forces, that are due to withdrawing from designated villages."

On Monday, ANA gave the Macedonian government a 24-hour deadline to
withdraw the security forces from Kumanovo-Lipkovo region. ANA made it
clear that it will re-activate its fighters unless the government upholds
its terms by 16:00 hours. /end/

01 Sept (Ribashkimi I Shqipërisë) -
AKSH "Skënderbeu" Division HQ's announces that it's Special Unit
"Kommando", led by Colonel Gent Kumanova, on date 28 August, 2003, has
accomplished three political and military strategic operations against
three important buildings of the Macedonia authorities, Skopje's main
Court of Law, technical base of the anti-Albanian government of FYROM and
the military barracks "Ilinden." The soldiers of this special unit,
responsible for their mission, carried out these actions during the late
night hours after they ensured that there would be no human casualties,
which was successfully accomplished.

The objective of these missions was to weaken the Macedonian military
base. The military barracks of "Ilinden" was and remains the "black
shadow" against the autochthonous Albanians, a base from where the Serb
Slav militias are supplied with weapons in order to create tragic events,
especially in the Albanian "Bit Pazar."

The Skopje Court of Law also mistreats innocent Albanians only because
they do not want to stay under the colonization and occupation of Slav
Macedonians. This court is turned to a simple political institution in the
hands of Crvenkovksi, where the term "justice" is changed into monstrous
kidnappings of fascistic type. This court not only closes its eyes to the
unjust arrests of Albanians, but it also sentences them without any
evidence.

The AKSH political structure, FBKSH, through its serious declaration has
made known to all official political actors in the Albanian territories
and, above all, to the international actors to properly take into
consideration the demand of Albanians for the just solution of the
Albanian National cause. Albanians do not want to live with their Slav
Macedonian colonizers any more, but they want their ethnic state by
uniting with Albania. It has been a while now that the AKSH soldiers have
been speaking the language of good reason, but the irresponsible actors of
Albanian official policy or the irresponsibility of the Macedonian
officials or the international community are canalizing our warnings into
banal offenses and unmeritorious labels. It is time to stop these untrue
and irresponsible declarations for the alleged "FYROM stability" and
seriously consider the repeated demand of autochthonous Albanians in FYROM
to get rid of the Slav Macedonian colonization once and forever. The
sooner the international community sits down and examines this demand with
full responsibility, the better for the peace and stability in the
Balkans. If otherwise, we declare certain international factors are
interested in keeping the Balkans in a permanent war situation, which
obliges the Albanian nation's freedoms fighters to sacrifice to eliminate
the cause of this anti-Albanian phenomenon, states communiqué number 29th
released by the AKSH General HQ's spokesperson, Colonel Ilir Duraku. AKSH Sends Ultimatum To Macedonian
Military Forces

01 Sept (Ribashkimi I Shqipërisë) -
On Monday, September 01, 2003, AKSH General HQ's examined the tragic
situation created on the Albanian territory of Kumanova municipality as a
result of the serious provocations made by the increased presence of FYROM
military forces. Albanians, autochthonous residents of these territories,
are experiencing the worst days of unseen state terror. The expressions of
Serb Slav Macedonians soldiers like they are stepping over the Albanians
once again show the unseen wildness of the authorities of the so-called
state without a name, FYROM. As a result of this several Albanian families
have displaced from their villages in Malinë, Brezë, Tanushë etc.

This cruel act that is taking place before the eyes of the international
community, which, as it seems, is testing the patience of Albanians.
Albanian political forces in position and opposition in FYROM, which we
consider more than irresponsible and unpatriotic, did not react with the
proper means. The acts of the Slav Macedonian authorities have revived a
massive hatred amongst the Albanian population. The people of this region
have called for AKSH assistance to protect during these bad days they are
experiencing. AKSH General HQ's has undertaken the appropriate measures
and is relocating the AKSH forces there where the unprotected Albanian
population needs them. In these circumstances, based on international
rights juridical principles, in the principle for self-determination, war
against the colonization and defending of the unprotected civil
population, AKSH General HQ's makes this ultimatum"
"Within 24 hours, starting from 1600 hrs of today's date September 1,
2003, all the military and police forces and their heavy weaponry must
withdraw from Kumanova and all Albanian-inhabited areas around this town.
If these Macedonian military-police forces do not withdraw in order to
leave in peace the Albanians in their lands, AKSH General HQ's is
legitimated to order their forces to operate and to realize with any means
this patriotic, civil, and democratic obligation. We appeal to the
international community personnel who are operating in FYROM, urgently to
influence the fulfillment of this lawful and democratic right for
Albanians, the right of removing the armed colonizers from their lands and
homes. If otherwise, they will also be held accountable for what will
happen next after this Ultimatum in continuity in FYROM. We appeal and
want that the Albanian political forces in FYROM, within the deadline of
this Ultimatum, express their political position related to this barbarous
act of the genocidal Slav Macedonian authorities.

ERP KIM Info-Service is
the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska
and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace Bishop
Artemije.Our Information Service is
distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The main focus of the
Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian
community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM Info Service
works in cooperation with www.serbian-translation.com
as well as the Kosovo Daily
News (KDN) News List

Disclaimer:The views
expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts which are
not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are their own and
do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian Orthodox
Church

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